Summary

In summer, Yvonne, with the twins, drives from Paris to Province, to Addy’s chateau. The work that Addy has put into the estate impresses Yvonne although she feels apart from the renovations. “There are only so many ways of saying “ooh” and “ah” and “tres beau,” especially if you’re not encouraged to ask questions or make comments” (177). The encounters with her in-laws do not go well. The two are icy without the affection Yvonne assumed she would receive as Addy’s wife and the mother of their grandchildren. They were, to Yvonne, “the purest expression of French bigotry and tunnel-digging weasel determination, though with beautiful manners” (182).

Staying in the roomy chateau, Yvonne is at turns restless, bored, lonely. The summer heat oppresses her, the grounds are heavy with mosquitos, the rooms airless and close. Addy leaves her alone, although the first...